Japan's real wages rise 0.4% in July, up for 2nd straight month

emirates7 - Japan's real wages in July edged up 0.4 percent from a year earlier, rising for the second consecutive month, boosted by pay hikes and summer bonuses, government data showed Thursday.

Kyodo News quoted the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as saying that nominal wages, the average total monthly cash earnings per worker including base and overtime pay, increased 3.6 percent to 403,490 yen ($2,800), up for the 31st straight month.

The rise in real, inflation-adjusted, wages followed a 1.1 percent increase in June, the first gain in 27 months, also boosted by summer bonuses.

The ministry attributed the continued rise in real wages to more companies paying bonuses compared with a year earlier. But the margin of increase was smaller as more companies paid bonuses in June than July, a ministry official said.